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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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July 6th,
2008 - Blackwater’s Shield from Prosecution in Iraq May End Soon |
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Blackwater’s Shield
from Prosecution in Iraq May End Soon By Dale Eisman The Virginian-Pilot July 6, 2008 Washington - Reports that
the United States has agreed to stop shielding employees of Blackwater
Worldwide and other American contractors in Iraq from prosecution in Iraqi
courts drew little comment Wednesday from the State Department. "We don't go into
detail on the negotiations," said department spokesman Karl Duckworth.
The United States is confident that talks on a "status of forces
agreement" to cover Americans in Iraq will produce "an arrangement
that will be mutually agreeable," he added. A new agreement is critical
to keeping the U.S. effort in Iraq on solid legal footing. American forces
operate under a U. N. mandate that will expire in December. American
authorities conferred immunity on thousands of U.S. contractors in Iraq
beginning in 2004, before Iraq's sovereignty was restored. The New York Times reported
Wednesday that Iraq's foreign minister has told colleagues that a new deal
setting ground rules for Americans in Iraq will not provide immunity for
security contractors such as those working for Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater. Blackwater has hundreds of
operatives in Iraq, assigned principally to protect State Department
personnel. The company's top executive said last year that Blackwater would
protect from Iraqi courts any of its employees accused in the shootings of 17
Iraqi civilians in an incident last year in Baghdad. Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater
spokeswoman, said Wednesday that the company is waiting to hear from the
State Department on any new agreement before commenting on its plans. Scott Horton, a professor at
New York's Hofstra University law school and an international human rights
advocate, said that even if a new agreement ended immunity for contractors,
the State Department could shield Blackwater employees under provisions of
international law that cover diplomatic security personnel. Horton said that, given the
spotty record of Iraq's nascent court system, it would not be surprising if
the United States wanted to extend legal safeguards to Americans working in
Iraq. U.S. troops and private contractors in many other countries, including
South Korea, Germany and Japan, often are protected from courts in those
countries under status-of-forces agreements, he noted. But those Americans remain
subject to prosecution in the United States for offenses committed overseas,
Horton said. Slow action or inaction by the United States has fueled Iraqi
demands that immunity be lifted, he said. "U.S. prosecutors have
failed to use the laws already on the books to prosecute contractors,"
an Australian investigator alleged in a U.N. report released Monday. Eugene Fidell, who teaches
law at Yale University and is president of the National Institute of Military
Justice, said he's doubtful that the State Department could provide
diplomatic protections from prosecution to Blackwater employees. "The Iraqis weren't
born yesterday," Fidell said, adding that they are unlikely to agree to
such an arrangement. Fidell said U.S. contractors
have a legitimate interest in seeking protections. Iraqis have made
tremendous strides, he said, but constructing a criminal justice system in
which people can have confidence has proved to be a challenge. And unless there is some
provision to shield American contractors from Iraqi justice, Fidell said, he
would expect many companies to pull their workers out of Iraq once the U.N.
mandate ends. The United States employs
about 180,000 contractors in Iraq, said Doug Brooks, president of the
International Peace Operations Association, a trade group for security
contractors. Roughly two-thirds of those people are Iraqi civilians and
already subject to Iraqi law, he said, and only a small fraction of the rest
are involved in security work. The United States uses
contractors in Iraq for a variety of support missions - such as providing
food and housing for American troops - that previously were done by the
military. Congress has been
increasingly uneasy about those practices in recent months, with Virginia
Sen. Jim Webb prominent among lawmakers demanding that the Bush
administration provide more information about its use of contractors. Kimberly Hunter, a
spokeswoman for Webb, confirmed Wednesday that her boss is holding up Senate confirmation
of the nominations of four civilian defense officials until he gets more
complete answers to queries about a Blackwater training facility in Southern
California. Hunter said Webb wants to
know more about Blackwater's role in training American troops. Blackwater has invited Webb
to tour the California facility, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. External link: http://hamptonroads.com/2008/07/blackwaters-shield-prosecution-iraq-may-end-soon |